As a new mom, I spend a considerable amount of time nursing my newborn son. At first, it was enough for me to watch him during my new 8-hour a day job feeding him. However, I soon found that I could read books and do other things like internet research while he was feeding. I became very good at typing with one hand while I was looking up what age he might start holding his head up, etc. Then, I realized you could make some money while doing internet research and I found Amazon Mechanical Turk and here I am! Since I am a math teacher, I will be going back to work in the fall. I plan on using my experience as a mechanical turk in my classroom. It will be a great story for a lesson on estimation…

I’ve been turking now for about 6 weeks with no real goal in mind except to make a few extra dollars – although “extra” is a fantasy right now. I need every dollar I can get my hands on since I, like many others, am laid off from corporate America. I have since set a goal. My nephew is getting married in Las Vegas in December and I want to be there. I need to make enough to cover the airfare and the room. I love turking! I approach it as a job, getting up in the morning, making coffee, and then sitting down for a few hours of turking. Then I take a break, look for a job or do chores, then back at the turking. I also turk when I can’t sleep or when I’m bored. I find that it allows me to use my brain for something other than complaining about the state of our economy. I have resigned myself that the “good old days” are just that – old. My life has changed dramatically from a monetary standpoint but has gotten better from a stress level standpoint. Migraines are all but gone, I’ve almost eliminated two of the three medicines I was taking daily and I am able to find the time to enjoy life. Definitely different than the life I was used to. The very best thing of all is the time I am able to spend with my family, especially my mom and my son. We have a great relationship and I am thankful for every day we share.

I read an article about Mechanical Turk online while trying to figure out ways to make extra money. I had been looking for a flexible second job. As a waitress, I don’t always make the money I need every month to pay my bills. For the first few days, I was astonished at how low pay I was getting and thought it wasn’t worth it. I started finding a few things I found interesting, while learning as well. I found a few interesting web pages and was just doing it in my spare time while bored. I found some requesters that I enjoy working for and figured out which HITS are better than others. The more I turked, the more I found myself making per day. Recently, I’ve been actually depending on the money and Turk whenever I can. My days off I spend HOURS turking. I know when I break down the hourly rate, its not much at all. However, I enjoy the flexibility. I like that I can do my “second job” from home and the money really has come in handy when I have bad weeks at the restaurant.

I have been Turking for a couple of weeks now, and I am loving every minute of it! I started using this site to help pay off credit cards faster, and once that is done, I will use the money earned on this site to pad my savings. My husband and I are planning on having a baby next year sometime, and we are hoping to get rid of some debt and save up some extra money before that time. So, I found this website, and it has been a great resource! I come on this site whenever I have a few minutes to spare, and I am always able to find at least one task that I can do, no matter what my time limit is. I usually find many more tasks than I have time for, which is great! Most tasks are quick and easy to complete, and allow me to make money fairly quickly. I’m excited to really continue to work at this site, and hope that my success continues. As my experience on the site increases, I plan to continue to find a higher number of tasks to do, and be able to have the knowledge to continue to complete tasks with accuracy. I anticipate in the future being able to complete tasks at an even faster rate than currently, and I look forward to seeing what tasks will be available for me to work on in the future. This is a great site, and I’m thrilled to have found it!

Mechanical Turk keeps me busy at night. God only knows what kind of wacky antics I’d be involved in, if it weren’t for the repetitive clicking that leads to riches. I’m thinking that I’m going to keep “turking,” even when I get back to college. That way I can feel a little better about not getting a real job. I had a real job last year, but I got sick of doing dishes pretty quickly, and I won’t touch one anymore around home. I didn’t get very many hours for that job, so Mturk is actually not a bad alternative. Whatever helps me pay off the credit card balance, I guess. I wasn’t in debt until a few months ago, but I got lonely being the only person in the country that wasn’t, so I took out a credit card. Technically, I was in student loan debt, but I don’t even count that. If I stay in school forever, I’ll never have to worry about paying back my student loans. Perhaps I can start Turking while in class. That way I could take care of two things at once, and I’d probably get just about as much out of classes. Man, this makes me sound like the laziest guy in the world, but maybe I am. I wonder if I could get Guinness to look into that? It would probably entail some money. Or maybe I’ll just try to gain a bunch of weight and get my own TV show.

I’m new to Mechanical Turk, only “turking” for about a week, but have really enjoyed it. I am of Turkish descent, which is why the article I first saw caught my eye in the first place! I think the “HITs” are aptly named, because I’ve found them addictive. As a busy Mom with a full-time job, I feel like I can’t get anything accomplished. I have many small tasks to do, many of them involving several steps, and none of them ever seem to be complete. This is where the satisfaction of Turking comes in. Compare two images and choose one? Rewrite one sentence? I can do that! Hit submit, and I’ve actually completed something. If I earned 2 cents in doing so, so much the better. But the sense of accomplishment at performing a useful task, no matter how minute, is the real value I get out of it. I read another Turker remark that she turks during television commercials. I do the same thing! Doing so helps assuage the guilt that comes from spending time relaxing in front of the TV and not working at something. I suppose that’s the hyper-American work ethic at play. Ha! Current economic conditions have our family on edge about what the future may hold for us financially. Turking is a great distraction from my vice, online shopping! So even as I earn a few pennies, I save by not hunting for “bargains” online. This Turk is enjoying being a mechanical Turk.

The person I miss the most is my mother. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2003 and passed away from this nasty disease in April 2004. She didnt even last a year after her diagnosis. My mother was the rock that was holding me and my siblings together. After her passing things have never been the same. My youngest sister and I had a disagreement about her house and didnt speak for a few months. But after that issue fizzled down we were able to put things aside and were able to become the sisters that we had been before my mother passed away. My mother was the strongest person I knew and I hope that I am or can be at least half the person she was. She was thoughtful and caring to others and would help you out with anything if it was within her power. When I was pregnant with my first child in 1996, she willingly gave up her part time job she had at an elementary school so that she could stay at home and take care of my baby while I went to work. And I know she liked her job. She had made lots of friends there too. She was my daughters first “preschool”. My mother taught my daughter everything and my daughter knew everything and more BEFORE she entered Kindergarten. I now have 3 kids. At the time of my mothers passing, my youngest was only 2 years old. Thankfully my mother got to meet all of my kids and show them how much she loved them. And my kids DID know how much she loved them and they still miss her. We talk about the times we spent with my mother and all of them were good times. I keep showing my kids the pictures I have of their grandmother so that they will never forget her. It’s now been just over 5 years since she’s passed. I cannot believe how the days fly by. But I will never forget my mother. I love her and I miss her still.

We have a pretty good life. Good jobs, decent kids, nice pets. Unfortunately, three years ago we bought our dream house. Big mistake. Fast forward to 2009: It leaks, it’s got mold, and the builder has abandoned the property, leaving us no choice but to move elsewhere. This has put a severe financial strain on us, and the builder was not insured properly and is facing bankruptcy, so it appears that there is no financial relief available to us. In addition, we have two kids starting college this fall. This is certainly not a tragedy in the true sense of the word. No one is terminally ill, we both have jobs we love and that pay pretty well, and we’ve got good friends. But trying to pay for the repairs on the house, pay for the advice of a million lawyers, and pay for all of the doctor visits because everyone was sick all the time took their toll on things. So Mechanical Turk looked like a good way to pick up some cash. Certainly the time I’ve spent has been more productive than the time we spent with lawyers - none of whom were able to help us, and all of whom charged a hefty fee to discover that they could not help. Anyway, that’s my story. We still have a child at home but it is a big relief to see two of them out of high school and GONE! And this, of course, gives me time to do some turking.

I am a hard working early twenties female who goes to two different colleges full time. I also do amazon mechanical turks. I work hard to earn the money to pay for my college bills and things I need for school. I enjoy school and wish to learn to become a psychologist. I am extremely caring and given and work hard to help those I love. I keep them near and dear to my heart right where they belong. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a bit of a book nerd and totally into video games. I also enjoy doing online RPGS. I think that finding Amazon Mechanical Turk has been one of the coolest and most rewarding online programs I have been apart of. I enjoy the things I do, and enjoy the spare cash even more! I am a big family person and though I do not have a huge family I make it work! I believe that the best and most important quality in anyone is truth and honesty. I think that we should take more time to focus on that quality. I love the ocean and taking random drives to nowhere just to do it. I am a simple woman with a big heart and big goals. Currently I am hoping to save up to buy my first home. I wish to live there with the love of my life and enjoy life with him. Every day is a brand new exciting adventure.

I’ve lived in one region all my life, and although that limits my experience, it also gives me a deeper connection to my home place. I was born here, I grew up here, and now it’s part of me. My parents and the rest of my family were very conservative. I used to argue with my Dad about Nixon and Viet Nam. I’m still the liberal one in the family. And the only one to set down roots, which seems strange. Getting married young, I thought it would last forever. Marriage is much better the second time around. The best thing from my first marriage was my son. He’s grown into an amazing young man. I’ve tried several different jobs - accounting, administrative assistant, retail, even programming. None of them really satisfied me. I’ve had a couple of small businesses - word processing and custom programming. I’ve also sold my handwoven goods. Working for myself suited me much better. The one thing I know about my life is that change will always continue. I recently left cubicle nation to become a full-time student and make a career change. Before that, I was a programmer and data analyst. This is the second time I’ve been in school as an adult, but going full-time I appreciate it so much more.